


Stories

by jaynie



Series: Jimon Week 17 [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 16:18:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9770060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaynie/pseuds/jaynie
Summary: If anything was worse than spending Valentine’s Day alone, it was spending Valentine’s Day alone with the person you wanted most badly to kiss you.In which Simon and Jace spend Valentine's Day together, and it's not a date until it kind of is.--day two of jimonweek - jimon + valentine's day





	

There was one problem with Valentine’s Day, Simon thought, other than how commercialised it was. It was always so painfully sad. Valentine’s Day to him was nothing but a day where the pinning was worse than usual. A reminder that everyone else could have whoever they wanted but he couldn’t. It had always been that way.

Growing up, it had been Clary who loved Valentine’s. She’d made a card for everyone in the class, drawing cute little hearts inside every single one. Whenever someone gave her one, she lit up like the sun. Simon had treasured those she gave him, but he’d never given her one back. He’d wanted nothing than to see her beam at him, but he knew her beaming would be different when it was aimed at him. It would be friendly and nothing more.

Then, it had been Izzy. Unobtainable, just like Clary, but in a much different way. Where he’d been too close to Clary to do anything about his feelings, he was too far removed from Izzy. She was so far away, not even someone he could call a friend. Not really. If Clary was the best friend, Izzy was the girl that was so far out of his league she might as well be in outer space. Needless to say, he’d never told her, either. He was sure that she’d known anyway.

And now, it was Jace. He wasn’t sure what trope Jace fell under, but then, he hadn’t seen it with Clary or Izzy before he moved on from them. He didn’t really care. What mattered to him today was that everyone had someone (even Clary and Izzy had gotten together now - which he had to admit stung, no matter how happy he was for them) but he was always looking at someone that didn’t look back. And as if that wasn’t enough, the fact that he and Jace were the only ones not tied down meant that they spent the day together by default.

If anything was worse than spending Valentine’s Day alone, it was spending Valentine’s Day alone with the person you wanted most badly to kiss you.

\--

Jace arrived at 10 sharp, brandishing a single flower like it was a weapon and barging into the Lewis residence as though he owned it. Simon looked up from his phone, startled.

“A flower? Really?”

He shrugged, still holding it like it was a sword and not a fragile plant. “It’s a pity flower. Unless you’ve gone out and gotten a date and sentenced me to a day of third wheeling.”

“It’s a dandelion, Jace. I’m pretty sure you just picked a weed from the cracks in the sidewalk.”

The blonde smirked at that, not even attempting to deny it. Simon sighed, plucked the bright yellow flower from Jace’s hand and set it in a glass of water, determined to hold onto it despite how little it meant. Habits die hard, it seemed.

“Lightwoods,” Simon muttered as he turned back around, shaking his head. “And no, I haven’t got a date, thanks for the reminder. Why, do you have any grand pity gestures lined up today, too?”

Jace smiled, warm this time. “I was actually hoping we go out,” he said. “Walk around New York and make fun of all the fluffy couples that are out there being as affectionate as possible. If we’re going to be bitter anyway, we might as well own it.”

“Say no more,” Simon replied, already headed for the door. “Let’s go be bitter.”

They made it out onto the streets of the city, and they hadn’t taken three steps before the first couple, looking so in love Simon thought they must be faking, entered their field of vision. He’d seen lovesick people before, but this seemed to be an all time record because they would have crashed right into him if he hadn’t stepped aside.

Jace bumped his shoulder against Simon’s, rolling his eyes violently. “Who looks at someone like that?” he asked. “Seriously.”

At least Simon wasn’t the only one.

They continued like this, exchanging observations about the people around them. At some point, they turned from scathing, taunting words to stories. Maybe it was after the lunch out by the water or during the time spent in that candy store, acting like children. It could have been right after that first attempt to be bitter for all Simon knew.

“I wonder how long they’ve been together,” Simon would say, pointing to a couple that seemed more unsure than in love, but that refused to let go of each other, even as they sat down on a park bench to eat. “They met a month ago,” Jace would reply, watching the two. “He asked her out on a first date last week. She brought him funeral flowers and he was late but they hit it off, so now they’re going out on Valentine’s day and neither of them is alone.”

Some of the stories were intricate, others simple. Some continued past today, February fourteenth, 2017, others ended with it, others still didn’t end at all. Some seemed like they’d end it heartbreak. But all of them were beautiful.

Jace told most of them. Simon would chime in with details - the kind of flower that had become ‘theirs’, the holiday they first met the parents - but mostly he just listened, revelling in how soft Jace’s voice would become as he detailed the love lives of strangers.

“Those two were friends for years before they told each other how they felt,” Jace said as they left Central Park. “It wasn’t the years long pining you usually see in movies, like you had with Clary, but new. Newer every day. At least, the taller one thought so. Then a mutual friend set them up for a date once, but she somehow failed to let either of them know what she was doing. Or maybe that wasn’t what she was doing and they just made it one, somehow, because they wanted to.

“He was getting desperate, you see,” he continued, nodding to the taller of the two as they passed. “He kept hinting that maybe this wasn’t just a day spent with each other because no-one else was available, but it just didn’t get through to him. So in the end, he decided to stop being subtle and hope, pray, that he wasn’t making a fool of himself. Then again, he’d been making a fool of himself all day, and either nobody noticed or nobody cared. So, he did something so obvious not even Simon Lewis could misinterpret it.”

Simon gaped at him, eyes wide. “Jace,” he said, slowly, carefully. “This isn’t about that couple anymore, is it?”

“If you want it to be, I can pretend it is.”

He shook his head vigorously, stopping in the middle of the street to face Jace. “No.” The word came out smaller than he intended it to, fragile somehow. “I don’t want you to pretend.”

“Good.”

Simon wasn’t sure how it happened, but then they were kissing. Like their previous exchange, it was careful and tentative and gentle. It was all butterflies and small smiles and warmth, and when it ended, Simon was sure that he wanted another just like it.

“Was the dandelion really a pity flower?” Simon asked when they started to walk again, closer than they had been before.

Jace laughed at that, shaking his head. “No. I realised on my way to your apartment that I hadn’t gotten you anything, and it _is_ Valentine’s day. I thought roses were a little much, so I got the next best thing. If anything, it was a pity flower for me.”

Simon grinned. “We’ll get you some nicer flowers,” he promised.


End file.
